People's Artist of the Russian Federation, ballerina Ilze Liepa said that she had already made a choice and stayed with Russia. This is how she commented on the deprivation of her Lithuanian citizenship on March 6.
“Of course, I gave a lot to Lithuania, I have many relatives, friends and acquaintances there. But the time comes when you need to make a choice, a moral choice. And I confirm that I am with my country and with my president. What else can I say,” Liepa noted. Her words lead “RIA News”.
According to the ballerina, the fact that she was deprived of Lithuanian citizenship precisely during the election campaign of the candidate for President of the Russian Federation, the current head of state Vladimir Putin, was not an accident. She emphasized that this once again confirmed that she remains with Russia and its leader.
Liepa received Lithuanian citizenship in 2000 as a token of merit for her performances at the Bolshoi Theater with Lithuanian ballet dancer Petras Skirmantas. The 60-year-old ballerina was born in 1963 in Moscow.
On March 7, it became known that Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda signed a decree according to which Liepa was deprived of the citizenship of the republic.
Before this, in November last year, the head of the Lithuanian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Agne Bilotaite, addressed the head of state with a request to make an appropriate decision regarding the Lithuanian ballerina. The appeal stated that Liepa, through his actions and public statements, poses a threat to the security interests of the Baltic Republic.
In the same month, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said that Vilnius had every reason to revoke Liepa's exceptional citizenship. She pointed out that a person who received a republican passport not by birthright, but for other reasons, especially does not have the right to contradict state institutions in his statements, disagreeing with the official line of the authorities.
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